U.S. Workers: Stand with Venezuela!

U.S. imperialism is on the warpath, looking to squeeze the Global South and force its leaders to bend the knee. After decades of withstanding the weight of U.S. economic strangulation, Venezuela remains a thorn in the ass of the American ruling class. Ever since Chavez’s Bolivarian Revolution took control of key industries, the imperialists have wanted to bring Venezuela down, and their inability to do that has only embarrassed Washington. So, it is looking to create hysteria in order to build support for military intervention. Trump has ordered the bombing of fishing boats, sent covert agents into the country, taken over two oil tankers and announced a blockade of all sanctioned oil.

No matter what is said about narco-traffickers and Venezuelan government repression, the real reason the U.S. is pushing to take down Maduro is to open Venezuela up to imperialist ravaging. The situation has only become more acute as different Latin American countries continue to make deals with China, which is now the region’s second largest trading partner. These deals are infringing on the interests of the imperialists, and they cannot risk this getting out of hand, as they are politically bruised from the Israeli genocide of the Palestinians and the Ukraine-Russia war. U.S. imperialism has other targets too. Their attacks on Venezuela are also a means to choke Cuba, which is heavily dependent on Venezuelan oil and aid. It’s a “two birds, one stone” effect, with the goal being to reverse the gains of the Cuban Revolution that led to the expropriation of imperialist property on the island.

Let’s be clear: the U.S. toppling the Maduro regime would give the imperialists the upper hand they desperately need to strengthen their hegemony and crush Latin America. It would also give them the upper hand to crush workers in this country. Defense of Venezuela against all forms of U.S. intervention is vital to defense of workers here. The world, including the international working class, is anxiously watching the situation unfold and wondering what’s going to happen next. In the U.S., the general mood of the working class is one of despair, as our bodies have been put to the grind.

Under Trump, we have seen a constant wave of attacks on our living and working conditions. Some union leaders are trying to pass themselves off as militants, claiming to fight Trump but doing so in partnership with the Democratic Party. This is the same party that created the grueling economic and social crisis in the first place, paving the way for Trump to come back into the White House. All of this mixed together has made the thought of another forever war incomprehensible to workers. And this mixture has only deepened the demoralization in our class.

Why War Against Venezuela Would Be Bad for Workers

There are those of us in the U.S. working class who want to fight back. We are horrified by these developments and know that a Trump victory in Venezuela would not be good for the people there or the peoples of Latin America and the U.S. The pressure and nightmarish quality of what’s unfolding have an even greater effect on those of us who are Hispanic and have family back home. But with the current beaten-down position of the working class and the influence of the ruling class to shape opinions on Venezuela, how do we convince our coworkers, who haven’t mobilized much in their own defense, to stand in defense of Venezuela? Convincing workers to come to their feet requires showing how the falling of Venezuela to Trump would have a direct and negative impact on our everyday reality.

First, we should start with what the ruling class needs to invade Venezuela and take down Maduro. Every war requires soldiers. And we all know the ruling class never sends their kids to die as expendables for the rich man’s war. They reserve that luxury only for the working class and oppressed. Most workers sent off to war come back horrifically maimed or psychologically damaged, if they make it out alive. Then they are left out to dry, while the war hawks profit off the ravaging of Venezuelans and the American workers dragged into war.

Every war needs to be financed, and the main (unwilling) contributors are once again the working class. We are already getting squeezed from all sides and have been for some time. Most of us don’t even live close to where we work because we’ve been priced out of our neighborhoods. That’s not to mention the outrageous price of groceries, while the education and healthcare systems are rotting out. War with Venezuela would only make our current economic situation worse, since the ruling class would make us pay for their conquests by draining social programs we rely on and hitting our pockets.

The ruling class using the “war on drugs” is a dangerous precedent. Since the ’80s the ruling class has pumped drugs into our neighborhoods and mainly punished the black masses, who have been rounded up and thrown in jail. At the same time, black and working-class neighborhoods were gutted and ghettoized. This will be ramped up even more in the middle of mass firings and rising unemployment, since the ruling class has nothing to offer the black masses except for ghettos and prisons. The “war on drugs” blowing up again in our neighborhoods isn’t too big of a jump, especially when we are seeing the beginnings of it now. It is being done in the name of the fight against crime, which Trump is itching to mobilize the National Guard for.

The aggression against Venezuela is tied to our political situation as well, as a victory for the neocolonial masters will only lead to more encroachment on our political rights and ability to do union work such as organizing working-class struggles. Almost every U.S. war abroad includes the stripping away of rights and heightened repression against the population at home. Bolstering the surveillance state, spying on and punishing union militants are the usual repressive tactics. Most recently, we have seen the brutal repression of anti-ICE and pro-Palestinian protesters fighting against anti-immigrant reaction and genocide. These acts aren’t accidents but are what U.S. imperialism needs to do here in order to continue trampling on the rest of the world. The Venezuelan masses giving a black eye to U.S. imperialism would loosen the ruling class’s grip on the working class here and might inspire workers to fight in defense of themselves. If that does happen, it would definitely shake up the ruling class’s confidence that they can get away with victimizing the masses.

U.S. Imperialism Is the Main Enemy

While we American workers must take a clear side with Venezuela and the Maduro administration, it doesn’t mean giving the regime political support. This is on the minds of many workers who don’t want to see Venezuela’s invasion but don’t like Maduro’s heavy-handed measures. It’s true that the regime is repressive and that its repression of the Venezuelan masses must be opposed. But it is crucial to defend the regime against the imperialists because if the U.S. gets its way, both the Venezuelan masses and the American working class will pay a heavy price.

This doesn’t mean that the regime shouldn’t be done away with. It should be, but only at the hands of the revolutionary Venezuelan working class. Such an outcome would inspire the Latin American masses and U.S. working class to do the same. This is especially important in countries where the native ruling class works in coalition with U.S. imperialism, draining the wealth and leaving the oppressed masses in destitution. The successful spread of the fight through the region would create the cracks necessary to bring imperialism down once and for all.

If the U.S. puts down Maduro, there will be a right-wing realignment in Latin America. Already, Bolivia, Ecuador, Argentina and Chile are ruled by right-wing U.S. puppets. This realignment could cause major destabilization of the region, as the imperialists’ puppets allow them to plunder from the land and the people. Imperialist intervention in Venezuela aims to do just that: take over the oil fields and other heavy industries and place them into the hands of the oligarchs and the imperialists. This would be disastrous for the Venezuelan working and oppressed masses. They would have their conditions thrown back to the same level as before the 1989 Caracazo uprising, causing more to flee to countries like Colombia, Mexico and the U.S. and creating more tensions.

It’s not like we haven’t seen this before. The U.S. imperialists always manufacture opposition to foreign leaders who they claim are committing crimes against humanity. We can look to the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria just to start. It’s true that the leaders of these countries were repressive. But the imperialists’ line of bringing “freedom” to oppressed peoples was just a cover to eliminate leaders who stood in their way. The result? All these countries were left in ruins and generations of people were kept in subjugation, while the conditions of the American working class have deteriorated. That’s why it is necessary to stand in defense of Venezuela and Maduro against U.S. imperialism, the main enemy of the working class and oppressed peoples of the world.

What to Do in the Unions

Right now, working-class militants should look to bring these arguments to our coworkers in order to win them to the perspective that it is in their interest to defend Venezuela. This might seem basic, but it is essential to counter the passivity of the unions under leaders who have overwhelmingly remained silent on U.S. aggression or told workers that what’s good for imperialism is good for them. Building an anti-imperialist attitude in the class is necessary preparation to transform union policy and ultimately the unions themselves.

Antiwar sentiment can go in many different directions. Some union bureaucrats are already trying to direct it toward the Democrats, who aren’t interested in peace or saving Venezuela—they’re the ones who imposed the worst sanctions on the country. Pacifist appeals are not going to stop the imperialists either. Militants should work toward the mobilization of union contingents at antiwar protests that openly side with Venezuela against the U.S. Each small step taken or argument made will only help increase sentiment in our ranks to come to Venezuela’s defense and point workers here toward the need for labor action against war and for an anti-imperialist alliance with the working and toiling masses of Latin America.